YATASTO a film by Hermes Paralluelo

Hermes Paralluelo’s first film takes us to Villa Urquiza, a neighbourhood just outside the city of Córdoba. For several years now, we have seen cartoneros portrayed in Argentine cinema. However, very few films have deeply wondered about the way they should be represented. And a film that is aware of that while also managing to takes us to the world the lead characters live in constitutes an exceptional case. That’s Yatasto, a sweeping experience that studies, observes, and takes us deep into that universe, closing in on the lives of Bebo (15), Pata (14) and Ricardo (10); cousins, friends, and workmates who are learning this trade also known as “carrero”. The core of Yatasto is made with their conversations, the passing of knowledge and –notoriously– the way they talk and see the world. Memorably filmed, their rides on a horse-driven car are the backbone of this particularly lucid film, in which denunciation cinema is not associated to pamphlet art, but to great cinema.
Review from 13 ˚ BAFICI film festival catalogue